Wilderswil or Kiental Dorf in Bernese Oberland - places to see or skip?
 

Dear All - in planning a short holiday (6 nights 5 days) to the Bernese Oberland, I have decided to stay in Saanen for 2 nights, Zweisimmen for 2 nights, and in Ringgenberg (I am told that the family friend lives 10 min walk from the Interlaken Oest station) for 2 nights. Now, a friend of a friend has contacted me from Kiental Dorf, saying I am welcome to stay with her and her husband, or if I would rather, I could with her cousin in Wilderswil.
I would very much appreciate your advice on where to stay - Kiental Dorf seems to be a little town only accessible by a bus that doesn't go there too, too often, but I saw some photos, and it looks beautiful. Wilderswil also seems nice.
Anyone have any suggestions? I want to see cute mountain/valley villages, but at the same time, I don't want to visit a place that is out of the way.
I am planning some hikes between Sannen, Gstaad, around Zweisimmen. I also plan to spend some time in Lauterbrunnen valley, Murren, and Wengen. If you have been to Wilderswil or Kiental Dorf, I'd love to hear your suggestions. I would rather stay in less places and relax...rather than move around, but I feel like I may be missing out on staying with locals and learning about the culture.
I appreciate your suggestions!

I would not split these 6 nights into stays in different places. You will lose too much time by packing/unpacking and moving from one to the other. Doing *some* hikes around Saanen and Zweisimmen? Forget it if you only have 2 nights in each. They are so close to each other that it doesn't make sense to change bases.

Kiental is indeed in very remote location. Very beautiful, but out of the way. Wilderswil is *much* better in that regard.

If you really *must* pick two bases, then the choices should be Saanen (or Zweisimmen, would be ok, too) and Wilderswil.

Thank you, Ingo! This is very helpful!

wilderswil is on the train line between interlaken and lauterbrunnen, so you have great access to the other towns of the bernese oberland from this location. it would only take you about 10 minutes to get into interlaken by train from wilderswil.

most people tavel to wilderswil to go up to the schynige platte from the train station in wilderswil.

i have been to wilderswil a few times and i don't think it would be a bad place to stay at all. there is a migros grocery store behind the train station.

thin

Thank you, Thin. You mention that Wilderswil provides access to other towns in the area. Are there any that you recommend. So appreciate your help.

well, you can take the train to lauterbrunnen to get to either murren or wengen. from wengen you can travel by train to kleine scheidegg. from kleine scheidegg you can get to the jungfrau or grindelwald.

if you take the train into interlaken, you can get to brienz or thun by boat--or train. you can also stop in spiez.


you can also get to grindelwald if you take the train to zweilutschinen, and transfer to the grindelwald train.

thin

Thank you so much for your help! I am looking at pictures of all these places - magical!

if you are at wilderswil you have very easy access to the the schynige platte. the ride up is spectacular.

up at the schynige platte you can walk up to the panoramaweg--you walk up through the flower garden--that overlooks interlaken and lakes thun and brienz.

my favourite place in the bo is wengen.

thin

Thank you, Thin - I will definitely spend time in Wengen - I took some notes today on a hike from Mannlichen to Klein-Scheidegg and the trip from Wilderswil to the Schynige platte - thank you for your wonderful advice!

the mannlichen to kleine scheidegg hike is probably the most famous hike in the bo. you take the gondola up from wengen, then walk downhill from mannlichen to ks. you can then continue on to wengernalp or wengen, passing right in front of the jungfrau, or take the train to wengen or grindelwald.

another nice walk is from murren to grutscalp--then take gondola down to lauterbrunnen.

thin

Thank you, Thin! And these funi's and gondolas are not really pricey at all. Am I right? I saw 5-10 CHF in Rick Steves' guidebook. (I am not talking about going to any major summits here).

the gondola to mannlichen from wengen is about 10 chf if you have a half-fare card.

switzerland is very expensive.

go to www.sbb.ch to see train fares. look at regular prices and prices with half-fare card.

don't know price of gondola ticket from lauterbrunnen to grutschalp because i always get combo ticket--wengen to lauterbrunnen to stechelberg to gimmelwald to murren to grutscalp to lauterbrunnen to wengen.

thin

Thanks!

Wengen - Männlichen is CHF 24, with Half Fare Card CHF 12.

Lauterbrunnen - Grütschalp is CHF 8.40, with Half Fare Card CHF 4.20.

Wilderswil to Schynige Platte is CHF 35, round trip CHF 60. The Half Fare Card gives you 50% discount.

In general, the prices for mountain railways and cable cars in the Jungfrau region are among the highest in the Alps :(

Thank you so much, Ingo. In my 2.5 months in Switzerland, I plan to walk as much as I can! :)

I've done both of those "most popular" hikes in BO. Both were amazing (and easy walks). I would recommend walking from Grutscalp to Murren (not the reverse direction), as you will be facing the beautiful Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau peaks for the duration of the walk. If you stay in Murren, you can take the train over to Grutscalp and walk back. I also enjoyed the walk from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg. I prefer staying in Murren.

Hi Saira

If you stay around Zweisimmen/Saanen don't miss to buy a Gstaad easyaccess card. For 3 days it costs CHf 36.- and you can enjoy cable cars, trains, buses, museums, swimming pools, adventure park and more for free.
One half of Saanen is at the moment a big construction site, so better stay in Zweisimmen. Zweisimmen is also very good situated traffic wise.
Good hikes around Zweisimmen are Rinderberg-Horneggli, Rellerli-Sparenmoos, Seebergsee loop, castle trail, moor trails.

Dear Pb - thanks for the tips - will definitely stay in Zweisimmen! I've seen pictures of wild flowers in Zweisimmen - I look forward to these enchanting hikes! Thanks for the wonderful suggestions! I assume I'll get detailed hike info from the Tourist center (maps, trail conditions) because, unlike for Lauterbrunnen, I don't see much online.
On this trip, I will have 2.5 days in Zweisimmen and 2.5 days in the Lauterbrunnen area. Because I will be in Geneva until the first week of October, I plan to return.
Is Zweisimmen and the rest of BO as lovely in late September-beginning of October? I really love flowers, and from my New England hiking experience, the flowers are only in bloom in late spring and parts of summer. Are there some flowers still in September? If so, I can spend all of my time in Lauterbrunnen now (5 days) and return to Zweisimmen for more time (5 more days) in the last week of Sept-beginning of October. Would appreciate your advice. These places can't be rushed through!

Hi SairaK
It's always lovely in the BO and especially in Zweisimmen. We got 4 seasons and everyone has its special feeling and views. But in September you're definitly too late for flowers. They bloom only till beginning/middle of July. In autumn you find clear views, fresh air, yellow, brown and green trees, sometimes already snowwhite peaks in the background. You get informations, maps and suggestions about hiking trails at the touriste office. In the internet you find informations on this site: http://www.gstaad.ch/en/page.cfm/Act.../Summer/Hiking